How to write 出 (chū, “to go out”)
出 (chū), an HSK 1 character, means “to go out”, “to arise” and “to produce”. China and Japan order its strokes differently: Chinese stroke 1, going downwards then rightwards, is the 2nd in Japanese schools; Chinese stroke 2, going downwards, is the 3rd in Japanese schools. On its own it is an HSK 2 word; it also forms 出租车 (“taxi”), 出去 (“to go out”) and 出国 (“to go abroad”). Japanese reads it shutsu, “exit”, as a JLPT N5 kanji.
- Pinyin
- chū
- Strokes
- 5
- HSK
- 1
- Radical
- 凵 (“open box”)
Stroke by stroke
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
As a top-bottom character it splits into 屮 (“plants sprouting”), strokes 1–3; 凵 (“open box”, the radical), strokes 4–5, written the top first.
- top leftdownwards → rightwards
- top rightdownwards
- topdownwards
- leftdownwards → rightwards
- rightdownwards
Two stroke orders
Japan and China order its strokes differently: 3 strokes sit in another place. Japanese 1 = Chinese 3; Japanese 2 = Chinese 1; Japanese 3 = Chinese 2.
Trace it
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Pinyin and meaning
| Pinyin | Meanings | Traditional | In words |
|---|---|---|---|
| chū first tone | to go out; to come out; to arise; to occur; to produce; to yield; to go beyond; to exceed; (used after a verb to indicate an outward direction or a positive result) | — | 出租车 出去 出国 出来 |
- HSK 2025 syllabus
- level 1
- 2021 standard
- level 1
- HSK 2.0
- in a level 1 word
- Words with it
- 486 in CC-CEDICT
Words with 出
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 出 | chū | to go out; to come out HSK 2 |
| 出租车 出租車 | chūzūchē | taxi; rental car HSK 1 |
| 出去 | chūqù | to go out HSK 2 |
| 出国 出國 | chūguó | to go abroad; to leave the country HSK 2 |
| 出来 出來 | chūlái | to come out; to appear HSK 2 |
| 出门 出門 | chūmén | to go out; to leave home HSK 2 |
| 出生 | chūshēng | to be born HSK 3 |
| 出院 | chūyuàn | to leave hospital; to be discharged from hospital HSK 3 |
| 出发 出發 | chūfā | to set off; to start (on a journey) HSK 3 |
| 出口 | chūkǒu | an exit; to speak HSK 4 |
HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).
Practice sheet
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Keep going
HSK 1, in list order: